*** Welcome to piglix ***

Mount Carmel, IL

City of Mount Carmel
City
Wabash County Courthouse, downtown
Location of Mount Carmel in Wabash County, Illinois.
Location of Mount Carmel in Wabash County, Illinois.
Location of Illinois in the United States
Location of Illinois in the United States
Coordinates: 38°24′53″N 87°46′7″W / 38.41472°N 87.76861°W / 38.41472; -87.76861Coordinates: 38°24′53″N 87°46′7″W / 38.41472°N 87.76861°W / 38.41472; -87.76861
Country United States
State Illinois
County Wabash
Precinct Mount Carmel
Founded 1815 (1815)
Government
 • Mayor William Hudson
Area
 • Total 5.00 sq mi (12.94 km2)
 • Land 4.86 sq mi (12.57 km2)
 • Water 0.14 sq mi (0.37 km2)
Population (2010)
 • Total 7,284
 • Estimate (2016) 6,993
 • Density 1,440.37/sq mi (556.13/km2)
Time zone CST (UTC−6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC−5)
ZIP code 62863
Area code(s) Area code 618
Local numbers
262, 263, 264
FIPS code 17-50868

Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2010 census, the population was 7,284, while the next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, population 475. Located at the confluence of the Wabash, Patoka, and White Rivers, Mount Carmel borders both Gibson and Knox counties of Indiana. A small community known informally as East Mount Carmel sits near the mouth of the Patoka River on the opposite (Gibson County) side of the Wabash River from Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of the Forest of the Wabash, a National Natural Landmark within Beall Woods State Park and about a mile north-northeast of one of its main employers, the Gibson Generating Station. Mount Carmel is also the home of Wabash Valley College, part of the Community College System of Eastern Illinois.

The town had an unemployment rate of 5.4%, as of Dec 2014. The situation has substantially improved since 1992, when the unemployment rate peaked as high as 15.1% with the loss of industrial jobs.

Duke Energy's Gibson Generating Station is the nearest employer of substantial size. The Gibson County, Indiana power plant is located less than a mile away from Mount Carmel, directly across the river. It is the third-largest coal power plant in the world, and the ninth largest power plant in the United States. Its pollution has prompted considerable debate, partially because of repeated incidents where the plant created a blue toxic cloud after adding new emissions control systems.


...
Wikipedia

...